


Wedding Bells in Katolis

by NotAWerewolf42



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Anxiety, Elf/Human Relationship(s), Ethari/Runaan as Rayla's Parents, F/M, Fluff, Happy Ending, Interracial By Fantasy Standards, Lain and Tiadrin live, Lain/Tiadrin as Rayla's Parents, Light Angst, Marriage, Minor Ethari/Runaan (The Dragon Prince), Rayla has 3 dads and a mom, Runaan lives, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-25
Updated: 2020-02-25
Packaged: 2021-02-28 07:01:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22899937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NotAWerewolf42/pseuds/NotAWerewolf42
Summary: This was the day that Prince Callum would marry his love, Rayla the Moonshadow elf. As Katolis celebrates, Rayla has anxiety, and Katolis tradition says that she cannot even see him to calm her.
Relationships: Callum/Rayla (The Dragon Prince)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 80





	Wedding Bells in Katolis

The birds sung a morning song as the sun crept over the horizon of a new day. The sun's rays first kissed the rolling green hills and golden crop fields of Katolis, before alighting on the castle itself. Banners of red and gold lined the walls, and the townsfolk had been awake several hours to prepare themselves for a day of festivities: this was the day that Prince Callum would marry his love, Rayla the Moonshadow elf. 

It had been declared a holiday, but so many people were still busy. Barius’s bakery had of course been commissioned to make the wedding cake, so the man had spent hours making sure it would be the most delicious cake he had ever made.

Rayla took in the day as she opened the silk curtains of her large guest bedroom in the castle. Normally, she’d share the room with her beloved, but some kind of tradition in Katolis insisted that the two of them not see each other until the wedding. It made her incredibly nervous, knowing that she would soon have to face the crowds of people she didn’t even know, and she could not fall back on Callum because of the archaic tradition. 

Rayla smiled. Callum seemed to have that effect on her. He was her rock. Whenever the anxieties of life got to her, she knew she could rely on him to calm her down. He taught her to focus on her breathing, on the air filling her lungs, and slowly exhaling, and with the air, so went her worries.

Even without him there, he had managed to calm her.

This is why she had asked him to marry him, traditions about “the man needing to propose” be damned. She loved Callum with all her heart. She wouldn’t have agreed to this ridiculous royal wedding for anyone else.

A knock at the door signalled that the preparations were about to begin. She hoped that no-one would try to mask her entire face in make-up. She was not prepared to cause an international incident by breaking some overzealous handmaid’s arm over some eyeshadow and mascara, but she was ready to scare the daylights out of one for trying.

“Rayla, my darling?” came a voice more pleasant than any handmaid in the whole castle.

Rayla made her way to the door as quickly as possible and threw herself wholly into the arms of a widely-smiling Ethari. “Thank goodness it’s you Ethari, together we can fend off whatever crazed person they send to make me look like a silly human princess.”

“Actually…” Ethari began, and Rayla noticed the satchel at his side.

“Oh nae. Not you too.”

“Don’t worry Rayla, I’m not here to make you look like a human. You think I would so easily abandon my own culture?”

Rayla let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding onto. “That’s good. I saw some of the traditions for human brides. No thank you”

Rayla took a seat, and Ethari began braiding her hair, weaving green ribbons throughout. “So, how are you feeling?”

“I wish I could see my husband-to-be on my wedding day. All these Katolisian traditions are driving me up the wall.”

“He is a prince dear, it’s not easy for him to just abandon his culture either.”

“I thought we proved that children don’t need to follow in the footsteps of their parents.”

“If it’s any consolation,” Ethari said as he finished up with her hair, “it's even worse for him.”

Rayla raised an eyebrow in the mirror.

“I popped over to see how he’s doing. He’s had three handmaids working on him for hours. You’ve got it lucky.”

Rayla snickered at the thought of her fiance, being pruned and moulded to fit the princely aesthetic.

"One last touch…" Ethari said, digging around his satchel. "They say that for a human wedding, you need to have something borrowed..." Ethari pulled out a pair of intricate silver cuffs. The design was of a moon crossing the sky, in each of its phases. “I made them for Runaan, for our wedding. And now, we pass them to you.” As he spoke, he gently placed the cuffs around Rayla’s horns.

Rayla was amazed at the beauty, both in the fine craftsmanship of the cuffs, and the honour that she felt being given the same horn cuffs Ethari and Runaan had. Tears pricked her eyes. “I love you, dad.”

“I love you too my darling.” He replied. “Care for a walk?” Rayla nodded, taking her father’s arm in hers.

Ethari and Rayla strolled through the castle grounds, talking about nothing in particular. Before Rayla was even truly aware of how far they had gone, she was in front of the bronze statue of King Harrow.

Ezran had had the statue commissioned just a year prior, and it stood in the centre of the castle courtyard. Ezran wanted the statue to reflect Harrow not as a king, but as a father, and good man. His hand was reaching out towards the ground, as if ready to lift up those who had fallen. Though the statue was still new, the metal of the hand had been worn by those who touched it.

Looking up at her fiance’s late father’s face, Rayla’s demeanour fell. Ethari could feel his daughter’s pain. “What is it the humans say? Copper for your thoughts?”

“I came here to Katolis to kill him. I had no idea who he was, and I was ready to kill him. And now I’m marrying his son. Callum has told me so many stories about him, how he was a good man, even if he was flawed. And now, all I wish is that he could still be here to see his son at his wedding. It just...feels like it's my fault he’s not here to see this”

Ethari quirked his lip as he thought about what Rayla said. “You ken that’s not true.”

“Aye. But that doesn’t change the way my heart feels.”

The two stood in silence at the foot of Harrow’s statue for a few minutes, Rayla reflecting upon her views of Harrow, and Ethari offering her his hand to hold.

Eventually, Rayla wiped her eyes of the tears that were forming, and the two made their way towards the dressing rooms where Rayla would change into her wedding dress.

The two were walking down a hallway towards her dressing room when a friendly voice sounded from behind them.

“What’s this I hear about an elf in my castle?”

Rayla grinned. “Ez!”

She met the young king in a hug. He had grown tall, almost as tall as her. His dark brown hair was styled into dreadlocks with golden bands, shorter than his father’s were but with a close resemblance. In fact, dressed in his dress uniform, Ezran was almost the spitting image of the old king. It gave Rayla a small hope that even if Harrow couldn’t be here, at least his heir and successor would be.

“My king,” Rayla said with a serious face, giving a bow.

“Subject,” Ezran responded, raising his face to turn his nose up at her.

Rayla and Ezrand couldn’t keep the charade for a couple of seconds, bursting into laughter as Rayla placed a hand on his shoulder to steady herself. “Well, don’t you look good.”

“Thanks. You look great, though shouldn’t you be in your dress by now?”

Ethari cleared his throat and gestured Rayla towards her dressing room.

“Just taking it slow. I’m nervous,” she admitted.

“Callum is too,” Ezran said, “you’ll both do great.”

“I just wish I could see him.”

“No! That’s bad luck! You don’t want bad luck on your wedding day do you?” Ezran seemed to be afraid of bad luck in every aspect of Rayla and Callum’s wedding. He had had each of them perform strange tasks to ensure that their wedding and subsequent lives together would be filled with good luck. Despite being nearly 16, Ezran still seemed like the same kid to Rayla that she had met years prior.

“You’ll see him soon, I promise,” Ezran reassured her with a hand on her shoulder.

“Thanks, Ez.” she gave him another short hug, before heading off to her dressing room.

“Make sure not to knock the salt over! And knock on wood five times!” Ez shouted at them.

Ethari gave Rayla a confused look.

“Human stuff.” Rayla responded.

“Ah.”

Her dress was waiting on a mannequin in her dressing room. It was a white strapless gown with dark green lacing running up her arms, leaving her shoulders bare. There was further lace in white all down the back, showing off her defined muscles. It fits tight against her body, showing off her curves and only slightly flaring out at her thighs with an almost mermaid-style silhouette.

With Ethari’s help, soon she was ready, looking at herself in the mirror.

“You look beautiful, my darling,” Ethari said, tears in his eyes.

“Thanks, Dad,” Rayla replied, hugging one of her fathers. She had discussed with all her parents who had been freed from Viren’s magic coins, and they all agreed that it was best that only Ethari visit Rayla’s wedding in Katolis. Though elf-human relations had greatly improved, Runaan would likely never be fully welcome in Katolis, and Tiadrin and Lain were still recovering from being trapped by dark magic so long. 

Rayla and Callum had always known they would have to have a Katolisian wedding, with Callum still being royalty. They would also have a Xadian wedding in the Silvergrove so that both of their cultures would see the love they shared.

“Ready?” Ethari asked.

“Ready,” Rayla replied. It was time.

When her cue was given, Rayla walked arm in arm with Ethari through the cathedral, a Katolisian wedding march playing as everyone inside stood and watched her cross the aisle. There were smiles on everyone’s faces, humans and a few elves. Standing at the altar, his back to her by tradition, was Callum in his dress uniform, shiny and bright. Beside him was Ezran, of course, as his best man. In the centre was Opeli, serving as the officiant. And on Rayla’s side of the altar was Lujanne, dressed up in her human illusion. Rayla had told her she didn’t need to, but she insisted.

Eventually, they reached the front, where Ethari took Rayla’s hands, kissed her forehead, then left for his seat. Rayla took the last few steps alone, finally seeing her husband’s face for the first time in what felt like so long. He was in awe.

“Hey,” Rayla quietly said, taking Callum’s hand.

“You look beautiful," Callum said, his mouth slightly agape.

“You too,” Rayla replied.

“You may be seated,” Opeli announced to the crowd. “Dearly beloved…”

**Author's Note:**

> -NotAWerewolf42, beta’d by nival_kenival  
> Reference for Dress: https://www.bestforbride.com/bridal-shop/27/demystifying-wedding-dress-silhouettes-all-you-wanted-to-know-about-different-wedding-dress-styles/, the one at the top.


End file.
